Fact check: Prince Charles did not praise Marcos Jr.'s inaugural speech
MANILA, Philippines — A YouTube channel flagged at least twice by independent fact-checkers over falsehoods is once again spreading false information, this time about the heir to the British throne and his supposed praise for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
CLAIM: Prince Charles of the United Kingdom was impressed with Marcos’ inaugural speech.
RATING: This is false.
FACTS: The Prince of Wales did not comment on Marcos’ inaugural speech.
What the video says
A video published Friday, July 1 by YouTube channel NEWSFILES with username EvoShowTV claimed that Charles was “impressed” by Marcos’ inaugural address by showing a photo of the British heir apparent with a thumb up and captioning it with “Prince Charles napabilib sa inauguration ni BBM.”
The video, however, does not directly quote the British prince or even attribute the claims to a source close to him and instead references other pro-Marcos influencers who heaped praises on the president’s speech.
What was left out
There is no public record of Prince Charles ever praising Marcos for his inaugural address, whether media or otherwise.
The only praise Marcos publicly received from him was over the president’s nickname “Bongbong,” which the Prince of Wales called a “wonderful name.”
“I see you've elected a new president...Bongbong? Bongbong Marcos? What a wonderful name," Charles was captured saying in a viral video where he called the Philippines "a very good part of the world.”
The viral video was first posted by a user on TikTok, who identified as a Filipino when they struck up a conversation with the British heir to the throne while the latter was out interacting with the public.
Essential context
The YouTube channel NEWSFILES has been flagged by VERA Files and Rappler on separate occasions over false claims in its videos.
Rappler first called out the YouTube channel in August 2021 for falsely stating that then-Vice President Leni Robredo and then Sens. Ping Lacson and Tito Sotto have joined forces for the May 2022 polls.
It was once again fact-checked, this time by VERA Files, in September 2021 for falsely claiming that Robredo, then Sen. Manny Pacquiao, and then Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno have been disqualified from running in the said elections.
The British royal family has been the subject of many false claims, which are often designed to boost the image of the Marcoses.
For one, a fake quote was attributed to Queen Elizabeth — mother of Charles — which was made to appear that she wore red and congratulated Marcos for his electoral victory.
The fabricated quote even went as far as saying that Marcos is a “good leader” who is being “destroyed” by oligarchs.
READ: Fact check: Reyna ng United Kingdom binati si Marcos sa panalo? Hindi kaya
Earlier, a graphic circulating social media also went as far as claiming that Pope Francis callerd Marcos as "an intelligent leader" whom the Pope "hopes" wins the presidency in 2022.
READ: Fact check: Did Pope Francis publicly support Bongbong Marcos' presidential bid?
Why did we fact-check this?
As of publication, the video has over 181,000 views on YouTube and has been liked over 7,400 times.
The video has been reposted at least 25 times on Facebook, which collectively garnered 4,532 interactions on the platform, according to CrowdTangle, a social media monitoring tool by Meta, which owns and manages the social media site.
- reviewed by Franco Luna
This story is part of the Philippine Fact-check Incubator, an Internews initiative to build the fact-checking capacity of news organizations in the Philippines and encourage participation in global fact-checking efforts.
Philstar.com is also a founding partner of Tsek.ph, a collaborative fact-checking project for the 2022 Philippines’ elections. It is an initiative of academe, civil society groups and media to counter disinformation and provide the public with verified information.
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